1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to environmental propulsion water board devices.
2. Background
On Jul. 9, 1971, Tom Morey invented the modern bodyboard. That invention changed the world. Water boards such as bodyboards, wave boards, boogie boards and surf boards are popular and enhance water activities and leisure. One challenge for water board users' is learning to and experiencing the capture of a wave or swell to position themselves to ride the flow of water.
Ocean waves consist of water, wind, gravity and earthquakes all transfer energy to waves, waves are energy moving through the ocean to the beach in the form of a wave. But the water itself is not moving forward as in a current. Instead, the energy rolls through the water in a circular motion called a wave orbital. The crest of a wave is the top of a wave orbital, and the trough of a wave is the bottom of a wave orbital. When the waves reach the shore they expend their energy by breaking and then moving sand and shaping the beach.
As waves move towards shore, the ocean floor impacts their progress via shoaling, this causes the wave orbitals to flatten as the bottom shoals. When waves interact with the ocean floor (or terrace) near the shore, they slow down and bunch together (decrease their wavelength); but the time between wave crests (period) does not change. The height of the wave will initially decrease when it feels bottom, but then will steadily increase until the wave becomes unstable and breaks (often near the ocean floor face) near the berms and beach. The water literally falls over. Waves expend the energy they gained from the wind by transferring that energy to the beach when they break.
A spilling wave occurs when a gradually sloping ocean floor causes the wave to become steeper and steeper until the crest spills down the face of the wave in a rush of foaming whitewater. The wave continues in this manner until its energy is dissipated in a froth near the shore.
Spilling waves break for a longer time than other waves, providing ample energy at the start of the ride and a gentle decrease in power as the wave nears the shore. For beginners who are just learning to body board or surf this is ideal.